


An Unwelcome Discovery

by Islair



Category: The Emperor's Edge Series - Lindsay Buroker
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 12:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13100229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Islair/pseuds/Islair
Summary: The young Prince Sespian makes an unwelcome discovery whilst browsing in the library.





	An Unwelcome Discovery

Prince Sespian was reading his way through the medical encyclopaedia.

He found the articles fascinating. Everything from strange rare diseases and the effects of obscure plants to weird personality changes observed in soldiers who had miraculously managed to survive head wounds. It was far better than whatever boring military parade the Emperor had wished to drag him along to watch this afternoon. He would have to endure another telling off later for going into hiding to avoid the parade, but it had been worth it.

Since his mother's death four years ago, he had increasingly found himself the focus of his father's anger. That he did not share his father's interests in military action but instead was bookish drove the Emperor into frequent rages directed at his only child and heir. He had never yet lifted a hand to Sespian, but the tirades of hurtful words and total lack of affection still left their mark.

As Sespian browsed through the encyclopaedia, he came to an article on inherited traits. The article described various traits that were believed to always run true from parents to children. Apparently, earlobes that attached to the neck all the way to the tip were far commoner in the oldest warrior caste families and royal line than in the general population. A study had concluded that the child of two parents with this trait always inherited it, and the constant intermarriage between the affected families kept the rarer trait alive.

Sespian re-read this paragraph several times, and an uneasy fear settled over him, erasing his good mood. His mother and the Emperor both came from those families, and both had the described rare trait. But he did not. If this article were true, then he could not possibly be the Emperor's son.

A mild sense of panic came over Sespian. No one else must ever read this. He picked up the book, and took it with him from the library back to his room. It was hard to keep himself from running, but that might have made him look guilty.

Once safely in his room with the door shut he reopened the book and re-read the page to confirm that it was truly as damning as he first thought. He resolved to never let his earlobes show again. He would need to wear his winter hat with earflaps until he could let his hair grow longer. He dug through his wardrobe, scattering winter coats and other clothes to the floor until he found the hat. Pulling it onto his head, he considered how best to hide the book. A faint stirring of the air against his back was all the warning he got that he was no longer alone before a quiet monotone voice spoke.

“I need to check an article in the book you have just removed from the library.”

Sespian momentarily froze in horror. Sicarius was in the room with him. He scrambled blindly for the defensible corner between his wardrobe and desk and turned to face the monster that haunted his nightmares, shaking hands holding out the first thing that came to hand to use as a weapon to fend off the deadly assassin: a coat hanger.

The assassin regarded him with a somewhat bemused stare before retrieving the stolen book from the floor. Placing one hand in the pages to keep Sespian’s place, he turned to the index to find something, then rifled through to another page to read. Finally he reopened the book at the original place and skimmed the page.

“Huh.” He looked up at Sespian. “Your deduction is correct. Fortunately the Emperor is not given to browsing medical reference books for entertainment. Wearing that hat will however only draw attention."

The assassin knelt, placing the book on the floor, and drew a dagger from his belt. He nearly excised the offending page from the book and held it out for Sespian to take.

“Ensure that this burns completely when you destroy it. I shall return the book to the library before it is missed.”

The assassin stood and left without another word. Sespian watched him go. Why was Sicarius helping him rather than shopping him to the Emperor? How come he already knew he was not the Emperor's son?

Half an hour later as the offending page's ashes were cooling in the fireplace, the most obvious possible reason for the assassin’s behaviour finally hit him.

“Oh bloody bears!” Sespian swore to himself quietly. Was Sicarius protecting him because he was the assassin's son?

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know that earlobe attachment is not considered to have simple mendelian inheritance, but I wanted something for Sespian to discover that would be obvious once pointed out, but likely to have gone completely unnoticed until then.
> 
> I'll leave the readers to decide for themselves whether Sicarius really needed to look anything up or was just curious as to what Sespian was upset over...


End file.
